Treasury Objects to ‘summer Hours’ for Israel’s Civil Servants

June 17, 1976

JERUSALEM (Jun. 16)

The Treasury said today that it would launch a public campaign to abolish “summer hours” whereby some 100,000 civil servants work a seven-hour instead of an eight-hour day during the summer months. The civil servants rejected a government appeal to voluntarily give up the privilege in order to improve productivity and equalize their working conditions with those of employes in the private sector. The latter work an eight-hour day the year-round.

Histadrut’s trade union department supports the civil servants. Officials argued that the output of clerks would not increase if they were forced to work the extra hour in summertime. Instead. Histadrut said, if the government wants to save money it should make sure that public employes actually work when they are supposed to be working.